Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.50 You Save: $4.49 (64%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Fahrenheit 451
Book Review: It Was a Pleasure to Burn...
Summary: 5 Stars
Fahrenheit 451 is one of the best books I've ever read. I say this without skipping a beat. Like many people, I first read this book for school, and I fell in love with it. Fahrenheit 451 is an essential book for any reader, young or old. Bradbury did remarkable things with this little book, and I know I'll never feel the same way about censorship again.
Fahrenheit 451, the temperature at which paper catches fire and burns, is a hauntingly appropriate title for this book. For a controlled and thoughtless society, the reading of books has been outlawed (note, the READING of books - a point in an important scene which Bradbury wrote but never placed into the book and can be read in the Afterward). Deep thoughts are discouraged, and the public instead recieves no more than what I sometimes call "on a platter" entertainment, such as the wall-to-wall television screens and miniature radios which are placed inside the ear to block out all other sound. Firemen are now paid to burn books and the houses in which they are hidden, to protect the society that books are believed to endanger.
Like another favorite book of mine and also another very necessary book, Lord of the Flies, whos fiftieth anniversary passed last year with an unfortunate lack of recognition, Fahrenheit 451 takes place during a war in the outside world. Also Lord of the Flies, little light is shed on the subject of the war, although in Lord of the Flies it is often assumed that the war is World War II. But, as Mildred Montag and her friends know, "It's always somebody else's husband who dies."
Guy Montag is a fireman who, after meeting a young woman by the name of Clarisse McClellan, becomes disillusioned with the burning of books. Montag's life changes when a book falls into his possession and, needing to see what's in the tomes that are so forbidden, begins to read.
As the book unfolds, Montag's metamorphosis is astounding. A pleased, fire-loving fireman becomes a curious reader and fledgling scholar, becomes a man determined to do something about the dangers of book-burning, no matter the cost.
The book is not only a good book, an important book, but also a NECESSARY book, an IMPORTANT book, which I think everyone should read. I highly recommend Fahrenheit 451 and Lord of the Flies, both excellent and thought-provoking novels which will capture the interest of those willing to think.
Book Review: Frightening
Summary: 5 Stars
I first read this book when I was a junior in high school, and I immediately loved it. Five years later, I decided to read it again, just to keep my memory refreshed.Wow, had I forgotten a lot. I mentioned I thought it was great the first time; the second, it was even better. It is easy reading, so I managed to get through it within a couple of days, and would've been able to read it in its entirety if I had had a whole Saturday to myself. As other books that I would group into this general genre (such as "1984" and "On the Beach"), it projects a frightening future in which firemen don't put fires out, they start them--in the homes of people who are reported to possess books. As a raging bibliophile, this is one of the most frightening scenarios I can imagine.
Ray Bradbury is a masterful writer who commands your attention like few I have read before. He succinctly depicts the struggle of Guy Montag, the main character and a fireman, as he slowly begins to realize that perhaps his job is not as spectacular and wonderful as it once was. He lives in a climate of violence, where people driving run over pedestrians for sport, and wars come and go as frequently as the change in tides. And, most of all, it is a world where books are viewed as a waste of time, considering TV shows have been condensed to five minutes long and billboards are two hundred feet long so that drivers may see them as they drive by at breakneck speeds. Bradbury paints quite a grim picture of the future, along with his contemporaries, Nevil Shute and George Orwell, that seems frighteningly near. Haven't we heard the news stories about how the younger generation doesn't read? And Montag's wife, Mildred, interacts with her "family" on wall-sized TVs in the parlor...an interactive "reality" show that seems like it may be drawing closer by the second with the advent of all the reality shows in the past year. Rather than having her own life, Mildred seems to live her life in conjunction with these characters on the screens.
Bradbury gives us an ominous warning about what may be in the future. We should definitely all pay close attention.
This book is more pertinent than ever, and I hope they're continuing to teach it in the schools. It is important that we read these books, so that when things begin looking eerily familiar, we can stop it before it gets to this point.
Book Review: Books Ablaze
Summary: 5 Stars
"Knowledge is more than equivalent to force." -Dr. Johnson
Guy Montag lived in a world where firemen didn't put out fires; but rather started them. Guy was one of these firemen, and never questioned burning the one thing all firemen did: books, until he meets a young girl and an old man that make Montag see the importance of these magical manuscripts. This piece of realistic fiction is set in the near future, and is an extremely thought provoking novel.
Fahrenheit 451 definitely tops my list, and I would highly recommend it to anyone in their mid-teens with a love for literature- you will be shocked and heartbroken to discover the government's battle against books. It was unquestionably a page turner, the writing style was terrific, and contained a great plot.
The book was incredibly hard to put down. Every few pages, a new slew of questions would corrupt my mind; would Montag realize his wrongdoings? Would he discontinue his profession as a fireman? Would his new-found love for books be exposed? It was undoubtedly a page turner, and kept me on the edge of my seat.
Probably my favorite aspect of the story was Bradbury's writing style. It was wonderfully descriptive, and provoked a lot of sentiment. It painted vivid pictures in your mind, and made you feel real connections to the characters. For example, Clarisse was a teenage girl that allowed herself to think and appreciated nature; something rarely seen in anyone in the era the book was set in. When she died, it was almost painful for me as a reader to see how her death, a girl with such a uncommon love for life, barely affected the community.
The most disturbing thing about the novel was how believable the plot actually was. As America indulges in magazines, televisions, and radios, you can bluntly see that the desire to read a book just isn't as great as it used to be. At the same time, everyone wants to be the same nowadays, no one has much of a desire to be different, or stand up for what they believe in. Books bring about diverse ideas, and in a world where everyone strives to be alike, literature could be the entity that disturbs the peace of sameness.
An excellent book, Fahrenheit 451 gives you a glimpse of how lacking America's love of literacy could be in a few years. While alarming in its insinuations, this is a classic you wouldn't want to miss.
Book Review: A firey burst of our society's degeneration
Summary: 5 Stars
Simply put, society has always been caught up in the pursuit of happiness. And after so much time, we of the modern world have almost achieved it. The only thing that holds us back is the incessant racket caused by thinkers, and all the time we spend pondering their works, to gain no "fun" out of it all! Better than, that we ignore {or even burn!} their holier-than-thou books and live blissfully in our ignorance {or should we say pure euphoria?}. Analyzation and thought have only ever given us misery...
That Bradbury can create a world so perfectly grasped by this reasoning is an incredible literary feet. This argument has slithered into every mind to the point where you can hardly resist believing it yourself as the novel seamlessly flows from page to page.
Guy Montag himself composes the perfect vessel through which to traverse Fahrenheit 451's future. He is wracked with doubts and utterly shaken by his fears... that he is the only person in the entire world who notices its paramount shift towards the abandonment of all the lessons we have learned. Bradbury's writing style impeccably mirrors Montag's convoluted thoughts, his words whipping back and forth along every end of the emotional spectrum, capturing every nuance of Montag's terror, rage, anguish, and sheer morbid indifference to his environs...
...Those environs that perfectly mirror the [...] of our society. At first glance the book might take place in the modern America in which it was written, building a sense of unconscious connection with the reader... A connection which is soon brutally shattered by the seamless integration of nightmarish facets of our [...]: from fire men who "protect" with kerosene and a match to massive atomic wars constantly shattering the sky. The way these are injected into the story makes them seem almost fitting, as if our society has already fallen so much as to welcome such things. This cruel betrayal of the reader's thoughts is a powerful wake-up call, and will stir strong emotions within you.
Fahrenheit 451 is an unbelievable journey through the future. The world conjured up by the work is as perfectly woven as it is terrifying. Its extreme and twisted inhabitants guide you briskly through the tale, and convincingly complete one of the greatest books I have ever read!
Book Review: I loved it! A Must Read !
Summary: 5 Stars
How many times have you ever wished that you never ever have to read another book again or how many times have you wished that books should be banned so that you could watch the TV all day long? Well, enter into Ray Bradbury's world where reading books are illegal, watching TV all day is encouraged and running people over with cars are acceptable.Remember in school, where the brainy kids would always answer the teacher's questions while the rest of us sat behind? The rest of us would always feel dumber and after class we would beat up the brainy kids. It was a no win situation but in this wonderful society, class consisted of - you guessed it - television and more television. But in this world, everyone was made equal, so much equality that practically everyone are mindless zombies.
Guy Montag, the protagonist of FAHRENHEIT 451, mindlessly burn books for a living. His profession is being a fireman. What better way to prevent books from making us unhappy, right? Wrong! Everyone that follows the contraband-book-society is miserable. Right off the first few pages, someone wants to kill herself and it turns out to be Montag's wife.
Clarisse McClellan enters the picture and she gives Montag a little shove towards the direction of actually making him think for himself. For a moment there, Montag starts to live. He sees nature meaning trees and flowers, you know, that sort of junk people really don't see when their mind and concentration is on the television. McClellan also makes Montag question his lifestyle and happiness. He starts to get upset because he realizes that there is something terribly wrong with how the society works. But don't worry. Before McClellan can complete the transformation of making Montag into a living and breathing person, she gets run over by a car, driven by a bunch of kids. A wonderful world, is it not?
Since Montag is stuck in between the phase of being a zombie and being a full fledge person, he looks for help. Although he wants help, he's placing himself in danger, by - be prepared for this - reading books and by talking with Faber, a retired English professor. The journey that awaits Montag would be full of confusion, danger and anger especially when Faber and Beatty have a verbal one-on-one. By the way, Beatty is really Captain Beatty, as in captain of the fire department.